There were a number of rookie boy groups that managed to garner some attention this year, and at the same time, none feels so massively ahead or behind among that top tier set of boy groups. Our ranking largely reflects this, with two exceptions at the top, it’s a complete and total mess. Last note, of course, check out the Manelies hub page to see all the other awards we’ve given out, and the others we will be giving out as the next two weeks continue forward.
7. Enhypen (Scores: 4,6,6 | Average: 5.3)Despite being a joint venture between Bighit and CJ, Enhypen impressed us the least among all this category’s contestants, despite nobody having them in last, they did lose the 6th place tie breaker. Their debut song is very clean, and you can definitely get a sense of the money the group is working with, given the quality, but, it didn’t really wow anybody. I will say that some of the musical pauses were really interesting, but other than that, we need to see more before they have a chance of impacting the boy group rankings, as currently they do feel very Bighit boy group, in a way that doesn’t make them feel special with both BTS and TXT putting out so much content.
6. Treasure (Scores: 7,4.5 | Average: 5.3)Treasure managed to debut despite YG Entertainment being completely exposed as the horrible entity it is, even more notably, Treasure seems to be doing pretty well for themselves. Personally, in spite of my negative feelings towards most anything YG, I gave Treasure a genuine chance and their music just did not click for me at all. As for the other panelists they both notably had some good feelings for Treasure’s pre-debut music, and an increasing distaste of their debut music and all the comebacks since, so as a panel we’ll need to see that trend reverse if Treasure is going to make marks on the boy group rankings in future years.
5. TOO (Scores: 6,5,4 | Average: 5.0)Notably co-labeled under Stone Music, the same company that does all Mnet survival show groups such as all Produce groups, TOO, seems to be in a place where they could potentially build momentum. That said they struggled in Road to Kingdom and haven’t made much of an impact, with their show not being close to the same hype builder that Produce was. The upside I see with TOO is that they’ve put out some fairly diverse music so far, and did well in all of it. I actually think Count, 1, 2 is more fun than Magnolia, and feels like it isn’t trying too hard to be cool, which is a major problem with boy groups in general. They also seem fairly talented, decent vocals and good rapping allows them to have a basis to experiment with until they find a style that works.
4. Drippin (Scores: 5,2,7 | Average: 4.7)Woollim is a company that tends to have music that I enjoy personally, and almost never anything so egregiously bad that it can’t be listened to. The responses we have across the board to their first music is fairly interesting to me then, as we were fairly spread out in general. Their music isn’t bad by any means, but I think we all just need to hear more from them, as they are so new, just like Enhypen, the body of work is not there yet to get a good judgement. That said, what they do have is enough to bring them up this high, and they have a lot of potential, it will be interesting to see if they get to experiment more like Golden Child, or stay in a bit of a rut like Lovelyz, given recent years, I think we’ll see some interesting experimentation.
3. Wei (Scores: 3,7,3 | Average: 4.3)The group that topped the messy part of the category, Wei has proven themselves to be one of the Three Kingdoms at the top, that was a little history joke. Something about Wei’s debut just feels a little more innovative than the others that placed worse, and I always love a good whistle beat in any song. Are they necessarily huge talents that will sweep through the industry? Only time will tell, but they do have some good experience with multiple members having previously debuted in other groups, so keep your eyes out for them to hopefully show more in the future. The biggest fear here is that their company is pretty new, and is a question mark for now.
2. MCND (Scores: 1,3,2 | Average: 2)Chelsea says there’s something about MCND that reminds her of Topp Dogg, which is a complement, she loved Topp Dogg. I also see this, they have that slightly more raw feeling, loose and fun, there’s a lot of potential here. The rappers have especially impressed me, and the lean into more hip-hop style with Ice Age is fantastic for the group as a whole. Spring also stands out as a really great song, light and energetic, youthful maybe is a good descriptor. I will say Nanana wasn’t my favorite direction, but all their music has been fairly different, so I don’t expect them to stick in that field. I wouldn’t be surprised to see MCND quietly do well and grow over the years, although TOP media has a history of groups being fairly middling, or falling off like Teen Top, so that could happen too.
1. Cravity (2,1,1 | Average: 1.3)Spoiler alert, this is the highest score of any group in any category, just one point away from perfection (I’m sad I ruined it, but I’m sticking to my guns). Starship has a hit on their hands with Cravity, hitting massive sales for a rookie boy group from their first release. Like MCND, we’ve seen a well executed range of styles, and can expect them to keep moving around for a little while before getting locked into one, that said, they’ll probably do every single one well. Of all the groups in this category that may promote to being a top boy group of the year, Cravity absolutely has the most potential, and probably has the best and most consistent backing of any group here, with Drippin being right behind them, so we can afford to be optimistic with them. Congrats Cravity for winning the Manely for Rookie Boy Group of the Year, 2020!